text: If the liquid in a wet gel is removed under a supercritical condition, a highly porous and extremely low density material called aerogel is obtained. Drying the gel by means of low temperature treatments (25–100 °C), it is possible to obtain porous solid matrices called xerogels. In addition, a sol–gel process was developed in the 1950s for the production of radioactive powders of UO and ThO for nuclear fuels, without generation of large quantities of dust.
  Differential stresses that develop as a result of non-uniform drying shrinkage are directly related to the rate at which the solvent can be removed, and thus highly dependent upon the distribution of porosity. Such stresses have been associated with a plastic-to-brittle transition in consolidated bodies, and can yield to crack propagation in the unfired body if not relieved.
  In addition, any fluctuations in packing density in the compact as it is prepared for the kiln are often amplified during the sintering process, yielding heterogeneous densification.
  Some pores and other structural defects associated with density variations have been shown to play a detrimental role in the sintering process by growing and thus limiting end-point densities. Differential stresses arising from heterogeneous densification have also been shown to result in the propagation of internal cracks, thus becoming the strength-controlling flaws.
  It would therefore appear desirable to process a material in such a way that it is physically uniform with regard to the distribution of components and porosity, rather than using particle size distributions which will maximize the green density. The containment of a uniformly dispersed assembly of strongly interacting particles in suspension requires total control over particle-particle interactions. Monodisperse colloids provide this potential.
  Monodisperse powders of colloidal silica, for example, may therefore be stabilized sufficiently to ensure a high degree of order in the colloidal crystal or polycrystalline colloidal solid which results from aggregation. The degree of order appears to be limited by the time and space allowed for longer-range correlations to be established. Such defective polycrystalline structures would appear to be the basic elements of nanoscale materials science, and, therefore, provide the first step in developing a more rigorous understanding of the mechanisms involved in microstructural evolution in inorganic systems such as sintered ceramic nanomaterials.
  Ultra-fine and uniform ceramic powders can be formed by precipitation. These powders of single and multiple component compositions can be produced at a nanoscale particle size for dental, biomedical, agrochemical, or catalytic applications. Powder abrasives, used in a variety of finishing operations, are made using a sol–gel type process. One of the more important applications of sol–gel processing is to carry out zeolite synthesis. Other elements (metals, metal oxides) can be easily incorporated into the final product and the silicate sol formed by this method is very stable. Semi-stable metal complexes can be used to produce sub-2 nm oxide particles without thermal treatment. During base-catalyzed synthesis, hydroxo (M-OH) bonds may be avoided in favor of oxo (M-O-M) using a ligand which is strong enough to prevent reaction in the hydroxo regime but weak enough to allow reaction in the oxo regime (see Pourbaix diagram).